As the title states, found a guy locally selling a '94 IDI turbo. Nice truck, GREAT miles (94K), and really good price.

It's a regular cab, 4WD. 5 speed, stick on the 'case, has Superwinch manual hubs installed. PW, PDL, A/C works, cloth bench. Two-tone blue with blue interior. Body is in nice shape and really has no visible rust I can see (except for a couple dings and scrapes).

I looked it over today, started it up, but didn't drive it as the rearmost spring hangers on the back are rusted out and need replaced (guy is going to have that done). I plan to really go over it when I can get back to test drive it, so what should I look for? I do know I need to pull the turbo inlet hose and check the compressor wheel.

Do I need to check the coolant additive levels on this truck? (I do have some of the test strips).

What else?

One thing I was curious about, it sure wasn't very loud for a diesel. The Powerstrokes I've looked at were considerably more "clattery" than this thing was. Why's that?

 

These are rather quiet compared to other diesels. The power strokes get there distictive sound from the HEUI injection system the valves in the injectors make a lot of noise and the high presure at wich the fule is injected makes the distictive diesel knock of the power stroke. I would also check the turbo for endplay it should have a little but not alot. Check the oil level and condition, see if it smells like fule. I think I remmeber you metioned it had trouble starting try to make sure he hasn't been useing either/starting fluid to get it started. I would also check and see if he has service records for the truck.

 

No it started easy, it was hot yesterday, the "wait to start" light came on for about 5 seconds and went off. Guy said it's always been easy to start.

 

By the way, what sort of mileage should be expected? I've seen lots of reports about Powerstroke and non-turbo IDI mileage, but not much about the turbo IDI's....

 

mileage depends on alot with these engines. mine is getting around 17mpg. the pump is turned up 25% and i made my own intake with autozone parts for like 50 buck. it was averaging 15-16, then i had the pump rebuilt due to my grandfather (previous owner) never running an additive and buy cheap fuel. it will get down and pull with a comparable 12 valve dodge. the low noise level is due to the indirect injection setup. the fuel is injected in a prechamber in the head. this muffles the injector rapping alot. you are right about the compressor wheel. these trucks like to suck down the air filters, wire mesh and all. thats why i made the intake for mine. the little filter gauge is very inaccurate! good luck!!! these are very dependable and bulletproof enignes.

 

The guy told me he put a K&N on the truck (stock airbox), but fortunately he's driven it very little since putting it on (he's disabled).

Will be looking to replace that with something else.

When you say you had the pump rebuilt, do you just mean the fuel pump?

I see a fuel pump for the truck is $30...that's great

Can't seem to find an injector pump, if there is one.

 

the pump im talking about is the high pressure fuel injection pump. it is a Standyne DB2 distributor style pump. it sits on the back side of the housing that the oil fill cap is on. kinda in the "V" of the engine. it has 9 lines coming off the back of it. 1 to the fuel filter housing on the pass. side and 8 that go to the cylinders. my rebuild was 450 or so because of the trash my grandfather called fuel. a little about the turbo motor pump- when ford had ATS put the turbos on, the fuel was never adjusted to proportion. with deleting the factory air box assembly, it is safe to go 20-25% over factory fuel rate. i can explain how to adjust this yourself if you like. its fairly simple. the average rebuild is around 300-350. mine was an exception, so dont let that detur you. the DB2 and its variants are used to this day on many engines. the fuel pump you found a price for is the "lift" pump. same thing that the old carburated gas engines had down on the side of the block. this particular engine has it on the bottom of the pass. side of the block. I had my injector pump done at CV Diesel Sales and Service in Greencastle, PA. If the truck starts good, and has good throttle response, your pump is prob'ly good. They usually last over 200K before rebuild. mine was at 194K, so it wasnt too soon really.

 

PLEASE!! Before making any adjustments to the injection pump, get a good quality pyrometer installed. While you are at it throw a 0 to 20 psi boost guage in too. It is quite simple to turn up the fuel delivery screw, however it is just as simple to melt some pistons if you do not know what the engine is doing (exhaust gas temps).

 

ghunt, as with any vehicle the more you can check out the better you are.

Ball joints, tie rod ends, U joints are good things to check.
Although none of them are super expensive, several parts added together can come up to a rather large number.

A 20 dollar U joint.....there are 7 of them which suddenly becomes 140 dollars.
When I had the Dana 44 under mine, while plowing snow seeing a 5 to 7 hundred dollar repair bill for 4 ball joints, three tie rod ends and a couple U joints and an alignment was a yearly thing to pass inspection.

Do the tires show an odd wear pattern?

The closer you look, the less surprises you have later.

If the guy is up front with everything and you are not sure what you are looking at, he should let you drive it to a shop to get it inspected.

That could be money well spent.

If he is a decent guy, and you find you need to replace several front end parts, he should adjust his price accordingly.

I guess it it is dirt cheap, you could afford a few repairs out of pocket.
But if he is asking top dollar, you want a top notch truck.

Get the VIN number and enter it in the decoder at this link.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/vin-decoder/index.php

That way you will know for sure it is an IDI turbo or Power Stroke engine.
I have seen many 94 trucks that had misleading labeling on them.

And yes you want to check the SCA content of the coolant.

 

It's definitely an IDI turbo. Has a "K" in the VIN.

The truck isn't "dirt cheap" but, it is pretty close to book value.

I will go over it more thoroughly when I can test drive it.

 

One other thing I remembered, when I turned it to the position that the "wait to start" light comes on, after it went out, the engine kept going click-click-click fairly loudly every few seconds. Guy told me it was just the glow plugs cycling, is that true?

 

Yes , that is the clicking sound you hear.

 

Is removing the turbo on these things a real bitch?

Sure looks like it.

I suppose if I got this truck I would probably be buying the ATS housing/elbow/downpipe combo right off the bat. I've worked with old rusty, crusty turbos before, and getting turbine housings off, along with getting exhaust elbows off without breaking any bolts, is always a pain in the ***.

Also how much work is it to adapt a powerstroke exhaust to their downpipe, if anyone knows?

 

i put a cheap summit scratch&dent 4" exhaust on my old 94 idi turbo and with an adapter i put it on in my driveway and it fit like a glove, i tried the same thing with my 94 idi turbo crewcab and it didn't fit right, the bends were wrong and i had to take it to the exhaust shop to get it tweaked. make sure to get the ats upgraded compressor housing to fit their downpipe. look at the ball joints and see if there is grease fittings, if not chances are they are the originals and will need to be changed soon anyhow. later, pete

 

I went back and looked at the truck again today and gave the guy a deposit to hold it for me.

Ball joints appear to be originals, but with 94K they may not be shot yet.

I checked the coolant and it's just barely outside the "good" level for the additive, probably because it's been sitting so long. Guy told me it's been awhile since he changed the coolant but he also hasn't driven it in 2 years (his wife drove it now and then). Would I need to change the coolant or just put in some more additive?

Also I found out the rearend is limited slip, although unfortunately it has 4.10's (axle code C5).